Per this thread and all the wolf-dog analogs mentioned, I wondered what the differences are in the temperament and behavior of a wolf vs a regular dog mutt if each were raised from puppies by the owner/handler?
To answer your OP, I refer you to this article: http://www.wildsentry.org/hybrid.html
The folks at Wild Sentry actually raised (not from a pup) a captive wolf, and were able to bring this wolf to classrooms and presentations. It is quite a thrill to see this huge wolf in person (with no bars between you). I went to their presentations when they would tour San Diego, and it was always a treat. Unfortunately Koani (the wolf) has gotten too old to do these presentations.
Domesticated dogs are sort of kept in an artificial puppy stage all their lives. They’re more playful and submissive than adult wolves. A lot of the “predator” has been bred out of them and we humans enforce a lot of learned helplessness on domesticated dogs.
In Stanley Coren’s “How Dogs Think”, he mentions a test done on puppies and wolf pups. I dont remember the exact details. They were supposed to pick which box had toy in it or something, and the human aid knew which box had the toy, but they were not able to verbally interact with the animals. Dogs immediately start assessing what you as a human are looking at to pick up clues. Apparently even puppies who did not have any previous interaction with humans were better at this than the wolf pups.
So to a certain extent, they are hard wired to interact with us
I have had the opportunity to meet 2 wolves in my life. The first time I was young and don’t remember much, but the second time I was in high school. I was rock climbing with a friend at the time. There was a guy with a dog climbing next to us for a while. We got to talking and hanging out. I was petting the dog when I asked him how much wolf the dog had in him (because he obviously looked it). The guy said he was full blooded. This didn’t really strike me as weird or odd at the time. He was a pretty nice pooch. I don’t think it would have played fetch or anything.
I also knew a guy with 2 half wolves. They were kept outside in a pen with 10 foot high chain link walls. Obviously not trained at all and only kept as a novelty. They were the scariest fucking dogs I have ever seen in my life.